Were We Doomed From The Start?

1.- Leaving Home For The First Time

This story begins on a dark and stormy night, with the wind howling and the rain pouring outside. Specifically, in a small house on the edge of the deep dark woods, in a little wooden hut, which was being slowly flooded by water.
This wooden hut was nothing much, just a simple one made out of the surrounding trees with a little bit of good craftsmanship.
In said hut, resided a small child, forgotten by the world around him, his past and present lost to time, with only a broken-down home and his belongings to keep him company, without another living creature as a companion. Normally, a kid in this situation is either destined to become something great, or to have a most tragic ending. So, join me as I spin this mysterious tale into a story worth the reading.

Unlike most kids his age, this one was incredibly observant of his surroundings, always on the lookout and prepared for it all, just like this night, where his life would forever change, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. He had been taking a small nap in his room and was awoken by water dripping on his face from one of the many leaks in the roof. Checking the time, the weathervane and the location of the moon, he knew that today was the perfect night to go out and complete his little task.

This specific kid is interesting because of how he was born fighting the world, and due to his journal, which contains information gathered from all the places they had been, handed down to him for his survival. He takes notes in it often, writing about his discoveries and recently, a mushroom that contains magical properties, which he prepared to go out and find this very night. While getting a coat and basket, he walked outside just in time for a makeshift rain pipe to snap loose, drenching him in rain immediately and effectively.

Muttering angrily to himself, he trudged through the mud and rain, entering the forest. Once there, he immediately strayed from the path, taking another that he had memorized, specifically for this day, that only happened once every two years, creating the perfect environment under mysterious weather for the mushrooms to grow and be harvested. He jumped from under the trees, aiming for dry patches of land to not get any more drenched than he already was.

It took some time, but he finally got to the middle of this forest, gazing upon the sight of a vast patch of the mushrooms, and he immediately started to collect them, putting as many as he could into his basket, harvesting them with such precision and accuracy, as well as speed. It was as if he did this many a time before, and as soon as his basket was full, he retreated back into the shadows of the trees, as the rain continued to drench anything unlucky enough to be out and about.

However, across this huge forest, on the other side, resided another strange being, an alchemist long gone in his experiments and beliefs of becoming a god-like creature. This mf, was also out and about, looking for these mushrooms to probably shove it up his ass. Nonetheless, no matter what kink he had, he was still in search of said mushrooms, teleporting deep into the forest, right in front of this kid, running into each other and falling back, into a huge ass puddle of mud.

Ninja [the child] tried apologising profusely, thinking he had run into the alchemist when he wasn't looking. Yet for some reason, most likely because his ego was in the clouds, the alchemist was pissed, hoisting Ninja by the collar of his cloak and yoinked his basket of mushrooms, using them to place a curse on Ninja. As he chanted the curse, the clouds began to change direction and start to spiral like a hurricane, then opening in the centre allowing the full moon to peer through, looking as if it was dangerously close to Earth, taking up a pretty big portion of the sky, as the thunder boomed louder, and lightning became more frequent.

The moonlight shining on Ninja, casted a shadow which seemed to expand then take more of a form, starting to move on its own then appear in front of Ninja, flickering back and forth between a 3d form and a 2d one, before staying in the 2d one, towering over Ninja then reaching out for his hand to help him out of the mud. Ninja stared at his shadow's hand, reluctantly taking his hand, to which his shadow briefly helped him back up, before pushing Ninja to the ground, laughing silently while pointing at him.

He alchemist let out an evil cackle and disappeared with a sway of his cloak in a huge puff of smoke. Ninja mumbled to himself and got up, brushing the dirt and mud off his cloak then pulling out a handkerchief to clean his pinkish tinged glasses, having been covered in mud.

His shadow followed him as Ninja tried to return home as quickly, the rain having stopped and smoke starting to block out the sky, the moon disappearing behind the thick layers of grey that clouded up the view. Ninja ran through the forest, trying to lose his shadow but alas, he kept up, if not quicker. His shadow didn't speak, just watched him struggle to get home, intent on documenting his failed task and the apparition now stuck with him.

Upon returning to his house, Ninja saw that it had caught fire due to a lightning bolt, burning everything on the outside along with the rest of stuff inside his house, starting to spread to the forest behind it.

They both fell to their knees as they realised their home was gone. Ninja passed out, having dropped from exhaustion and hypothermia, falling into his shadow's arms.

When he awoke, the fire was out, and it was almost morning. He sighed and rummaged through the burnt wood, looking for something, anything. He found his journal intact under his bed and a small blanket he had ever since he could remember.

With the two things in hand, he left in search of a better place to live. His shadow followed him, eager to see what would happen next.